Stranding machines



De l, 1964 E. CARTER STRANDING MACHINES Filed July 24, 1962 E ma Cmm' INVENTOR:

BY (JA/Mq e,-

United States Patent O 3,158,980 STRANDiNG MACHlNES Eric Carter, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, England,

assigner to B. d: Ii. Carter il Company Limited, a company of Great Britain, Northern ireland and the Isle of Man `Filed July 24, 1962, Ser. No. 211,983 Claims priority, application Great Britain Aug. 9, 1961 3 Claims.V (Cl. 57'-13) vtated labout an axis parallel to the said horizontal axis in order that twist'might be imparted to the individual Wires as the latter are drawn from their Arespective bobbins, the said bobbins being mounted transversely of the respective bobbin cradle.

Such conventional machines', although widely used, do suffer `from disadvantages.4 For example, if a large number of wires are to be wrapped, the length of the machine is often excessive. An important consideration is the time taken to recharge the machine with full bobbins. It is usual with conventional machines, particularly in View of their complexity, to recharge the machine from above and, in view of the weight of the full bobbins, it is necessary to provide lift-ing equipment for this Ipurpose. To rechange machines from below would be advantageous but, with present machines, im-

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of example only, with reference to the single figure of the drawings wh-ich illustrates, in diagrannnatic view, one embodiment thereof.

Referring now to the drawings aV stranding machine for the manufacture of an electrical conductor ele-ment or a steel-wire rope includes a rigid tube 1-1, a sleevelike member 12 mounted on bearings 13 for rotational motion about the tube 11, a wheel-like member 14 having .an axial flange 14a disposed radially outwardly of the sleeve-like member 12 and rotatably mounted thereon through bearings 15, a plurality of bobbin carriers 16 .carried by the wheel-like member 14 yfor rotational motion in bearings 17 about an axis directed transversely of the tube 11.

The sleevel-ike member 12 has a pinion gear 12a at one end thereof and a bevel Igear 12b at the opposite end.

The remote end of the axial flange 14a carries a pinion gear 14a.

To .the bobbin carrier 16 .are secured bobbin mounting lugs 18, and the said carrieris provided with a central passageway 16a `to permit passage of a wire 19 mounted in bearings in the machine framework 24. A

kind specified includes at least one wheelalike member jmounted for rotational motion about the axis thereof,

a plurality of Abobbin carriers mounted upon each said wheel-like member and meansffor rotating said wheelf,

like member and said bobbin carriers, each said bobbin carrier having a through hole inthe body thereof disposed in a direction corresponding to the rotational axis of the carrier and through which a strand from the bobbin supported 'by the carrier passes.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a stranding machine of the kind specified includes at least one wheel-like member mounted for rotational motion about the axis thereof, a plurality of bobbin carriers mounted upon each said, Wheel-like member for rotational motion .about an axis directed substantially radially of such member, means for rotating said wheellike member and means for rotating the said bobbin carriers..

` More particularly, vaccording to the present invention each said wheel-like member is mounted cci-axially with and supported upon ya xed, rigid tube yand the means for rotating the carriers includes a bevel gear mounted for rotation about the axis of the tube and adapted to mesh with .a complementary bevel gear on said carrier.

In a preferred embodiment each carrier is adapted to arl-low passage of a wire from the .bobbin mounted on said carrier radially inwardly towards the axis of rotation of the tube.

The invention will now be described further, by way pinion gear 23a on a drive shaft 25 is in mesh with a further pinion gear 23h, the latter being keyed to a shaft 26. The shaft 26 carries a second gear 23e which is in engagement with la pinion gear 23d on shaft 27. Keyed to shaft 27 'is a multiple AgearvZle, such gear 23e being operatively engaged with the pinion gear 12a on the sleeve-like member 12 and with the pinion gear 14a' on the llange 14a. It is readily apparent that the gears 23a, 23h may be readily changed thus to give ya different rate of rotation of the multiple gear 23e for a given input shaft speed. l y

In operation rotation of the sleeve-like member 12 will cause the bobbin carrier 16 to rotate, and simultaneously 4the wheel-like member 14 .will be rotated about the axis of the tube 11. Thus during the wrapping operation wire `drawn from the bobbin will be twisted or untwisted depending upon the sense of rotation of the carrier. It will, of course, be evident that the machine may be operated without imparting any rotational motion to the carrier by driving only the pinion gear 12a ticable to provide a single head carrying a sufiicient numl ber of bobbins, a number of the assemblies illustrated may be grouped and wires led from one assembly to another along the inside of the tube all Wires passing through a die prior to application to the core.

In order to facilitate the guiding of the wires between successive heads it has been found convenient to provide a nest of tubes 29 longitudinally of the tube 11, each such tube guiding an individual wire.

Furthermore, wire tensioning means will be incorporated either at each bobbin or at a point remote therefrom. Again, an automatic stop motion will be incorporated if desired, such stop motion being connected to a pneumatic or other brake acting on the Wheel-like member, for example as at 28.

It is thought that the machine proposed will be such as to be capable of being loaded rom below and thus the recharging of the machine will be greatly facilitated, and speeded up.

t is also thought that the rate of production of the machine proposed will be in excess of a conventional machine. A further advantage of the new machine lies in the reduction of the number of loose parts and in the facility of leaving inoperative particular units when not required for use.

In an alternative embodiment it is proposed to have a multi-ring of bobbin carriers in a cage or like assembly and to rotate `said carriers in a manner analogous to that hereinbefore set out.

A machine constructed in accordance with the present invention will possess some or all of the following advantages:

(a) Since the wires, initially, are directed radially of the head and subsequently lie parallel to the axis of, the machine at only a small distance therefrom, excessive ballooning is avoided and thus the tension applied is not `modified by rotation of the head;

(b) The machine can be operated at a higher rotational speed than can conventional machines since the cradles or cones exert outward thrust only-unlike the cradles on conventional planetary machines which rotate on a layer common radius and must, therefore, produce more out of balance load;

(c) The Windage on the machine according to the invention is less than on known machines, the present machine being devoid of discs or heavy cradles; Y

(d) The reloading can be effected from lloor level and thus heavy lifting tackle is not required; and

(e) Individual heads may be left stationary if desired and thus the machine is economical in power consumption.

What is claimed is:

1. A stranding machine of the character described comprising, a support, a tube xedly supported thereby and through which wires are guided, a rotatable sleeve mounted around the tube and supported by bearings interposed between the tube and sleeve, a kwheel-like member having a hub portion disposed around the sleeve and supported on bearings interposed between the sleeve and said hub portion, the sleeve including a gear and the hub portion including a gear, gearing engaging with both of said gears and acting to rotate both the sleeve and the wheel-like member co-axially, the wheel-like member carrying a plurality of bobbin carriers, each of said bobbin carriers being rotatable about an axis transverse to the axis of the xed tube, each bobbin carrier including lugs for receiving a bobbin with the axis of such bobbin disposed transverse to the axis of the bobbin carrier on which it is mounted, each bobbin carrier including a passage extending through it and through which wire drawn from its bobbin is passed, each bobbin carrier having a gear, and the sleeve having a bevel gear engaging the gears on the bobbin carriers to thereby rotate said bobbin carriers around their axes.

2. A stranding machine as provided for in claim l, wherein each of the bobbin carriers is bodily carried by the wheel-like member around an axis Co-inciding with the axis of the rotatable sleeve, said bobbin carriers being rotated around axes transverse to the axis ofthe wheellilre member, the passages through the bobbin carriers having their axes co-inciding with the axes of the bobbin carriers and the axes of the bobbins transported by said bobbin carriers being transverse to the axes of the passages.

3. A stranding machine comprising, a supporting traine, a drive shaft and means for rotating the same, drive gearing on said shaft, ya fixed tube supported by the frame and through which wires are guided, a sleeve dispose` around and co-axially situated with respect to the tube, bearings interposed between the tube and sleeve, the sleeve being provided at one end with gear in mesh with the drive gearing, wheel-like member having a hub disposed aroundthe sleeve and arranged co-axially therewith, bearings interposed between the sleeve and the hub, the sleeve being provided at one end with a gear in mesh with the drive gearing, the sleeve having a bevel gear at its opposite end, the wheel-like member carrying a plurality ofrotatable bobbin carriers, each bobbin carrier having a gear in mesh with the bevel gear, each bobbin carrier having a bobbin support and having a wire-guiding passage through which the wire drawn from its bobbin is passed.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A STRANDING MACHINE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING, A SUPPORT, A TUBE FIXEDLY SUPPORTED THEREBY AND THROUGH WHICH WIRES ARE GUIDED, A ROTATABLE SLEEVE MOUNTED AROUND THE TUBE AND SUPPORTED BY BEARINGS INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE TUBE AND SLEEVE, A WHEEL-LIKE MEMBER HAVING A HUB PORTION DISPOSED AROUND THE SLEEVE AND SUPPORTED ON BEARINGS INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE SLEEVE AND SAID HUB PORTION, THE SLEEVE INCLUDING A GEAR AND THE HUB PORTION INCLUDING A GEAR, GEARING ENGAGING WITH BOTH OF SAID GEARS AND ACTING TO ROTATE BOTH THE SLEEVE AND THE WHEEL-LIKE MEMBER CO-AXIALLY, THE WHEEL-LIKE MEMBER CARRYING A PLURALITY OF BOBBIN CARRIERS, EACH OF SAID BOBBIN CARRIERS BEING ROTATABLE ABOUT AN AXIS TRANSVERSE TO THE AXIS OF THE FIXED TUBE, EACH BOBBIN CARRIER INCLUDING LUGS FOR RECEIVING A BOBBIN WITH THE AXIS OF SUCH BOBBIN DISPOSED TRANSVERSE TO THE AXIS OF THE BOBBIN CARRIER ON WHICH IT IS MOUNTED, EACH BOBBIN CARRIER INCLUDING A PASSAGE EXTENDING THROUGH IT AND THROUGH WHICH WIRE DRAWN FROM ITS BOBBIN IS PASSED, EACH BOBBIN CARRIER HAVING A GEAR, AND THE SLEEVE HAVING A BEVEL GEAR ENGAGING THE GEARS ON THE BOBBIN CARRIERS TO THEREBY ROTATE SAID BOBBIN CARRIERS AROUND THEIR AXES. 